The intensity of a hurricane is measured by its maximum sustained wind speed, and when that speed increases by at least 35 miles per hour in a 24-hour period — or roughly two categories on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale — meteorologists call that “rapid intensification.”

Hurricane Melissa roared ashore on Tuesday as one of the most powerful landfalls in Atlantic Basin recorded history.

Jamaica is expected to be in the storm's eyewall, which refers to the band of dense clouds surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The eyewall generally produces the fiercest winds and heaviest rainfall, according to Deanna Hence, a professor of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The prime minister ordered mandatory evacuations as officials braced for tens of thousands to be displaced. Three people were killed and 13 others injured during preparations for the storm, the health minister said.

Melissa underwent extreme rapid intensification, strengthening to a rare Category 5 with winds of 175 mph and stronger gusts, making it the strongest storm on the planet this year. Follow for live updates.

Article last updated: Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, 4 p.m. ET

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa set a collision course early Tuesday with Jamaica and made landfall at New Hope, Jamaica, on the island country’s southwest coast at peak strength around noontime local on Tuesday.

The number of storms that leap from Category 1 to Category 3 or higher within 36 hours “more than doubled” over a 20-year period.

Article last updated: Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, 1 a.m. ET